The Flower and the Stag
by Jamesrox
Summary: Lily hates James, and James likes Lily. Of course, we have all heard this before, how can they get along?


**The Flower and the Stag**

**DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTERS AND MAGIC BELONG TO J. K. ROWLING, THE AUTHOR OF HARRY POTTER. **

**Summary: **Lily hates James, and James likes Lily. Of course, we have all heard this before, how can they get along?

**CHAPTER 1 – On the Hogwarts Express**

It was early morning on September 1st, and many wizards and witches were getting ready for a new or another year at Hogwarts. Lily was one of them.

"I'll miss you, mom and dad. I promise I'll write to you once a week!" Lily said with a passionate look in her eyes. She had always loved her parents and never wanted to leave without them.

"Don't worry honey, as long as you're fine, we're fine," said Lily's dad with a broad smile. "We'll miss you too, sweetie."

"Take care, my darling," said Lily's mom, wiping a drop of tear off the corner of her eye.

Hesitantly looking at her watch, Lily decided it was time to say goodbye.

"Well, I have to go now. Bye, mom and dad!" said Lily, waving at her parents while she started to walk toward the entrance of the train.

"Bye, remember to write to us!" said her parents from behind, also waving their hands at their daughter.

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"Moony! Over here!" Sirius shouted over the crowd of people along side of the Hogwarts Express.

Remus turned around and saw the faces of his two best friends – Sirius and James. He smiled and started walking toward them.

"Hey, Moony. For a second there we thought we weren't gonna find you. Where have you been?"

"Er…"

"Who cares? At least he's here. Why don't we go in and wait for Wormtail?" James said.

The group of three walked into the train with their trunks and tried to find an empty compartment.

Remus opened a compartment and smiled at two girls that were inside it.

"Hey, Remus!" Alice and Pattie both said at the same time.

"Oh, hi!"

"Wanna sit down?" Alice asked.

"Umm… okay, but I've got friends waiting outside. So, make it quick."

Remus shifted into the compartment, sat down and closed the compartment.

"So, I see you've been made Prefect again," said Pattie with a mouth full of candies, realizing that Remus had a Prefect Badge on his robes.

"Yeah, thanks. Didn't think I could make it."

"Oh, that's ridiculous. How can you not make it?" slapped Alice playfully.

"Did Lily make it as Prefect like last year again?"

"Yeah. By the way, where is she?" Pattie said, still trying to put food into her mouth.

"If she doesn't come soon, she's gonna miss the train!" Alice said worriedly.

"Well, how was everybody's summer?" Remus asked, looking around at the two girls.

"It was okay..."

Pattie was cut off by the opening of the compartment door. Behind it was James.

"Remus, we were looking all over for you," said James.

"Oh, sorry. Well, I gotta go. See ya, Alice and Pattie!" said Remus, standing up to leave the compartment.

"Bye!"

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Lily tried to bring her trunk up the stairs but kept on getting it caught on the corners.

"Stupid thing!" she whined.

"Oh, let me help you!"

Lily looked up to see Chris, a tall seventh year offering her a hand. Her face quickly turned a deep shade of red. She had always thought Chris as one of the most handsome guys at school, and getting help from him was like a miracle.

"Err... thanks!" she said, feeling a bit nervous. "A lot! Yeah."

Chris smiled, took her trunk and carried it all the way up for her.

"Err… That's g-great. Thanks, again," said Lily as if she had never felt shy in her life.

"No problem. Just ask me if you need any more help," said Chris with another smile, and he walked away.

Lily stood at her original place, smiling. That felt so nice…

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"Sirius! Stop eating like a pig!" Remus said while Sirius was stuffing his mouth with food.

The group, Remus, Sirius, and James, called the Marauders, was finally inside an empty compartment, but someone was missing.

"Where's Peter?" James asked questioningly.

"Maybe he's just late," Remus said, thinking. "By the way, how did your summer go?"

"It was great! Sirius and I went to see a Quidditch match, and the Red Eagles' will be ready for next year's Quidditch World Cup! Can't wait to see them!"

"Oh, really? I couldn't make it to the match."

"Oh, that's too bad."

"What happened with you and Lily? She sent me an angry letter about you annoying her all the time. What did you do?"

"Huh? All I did was sending her a 'Happy Birthday' card," said James. Then he quickly added, "Did she not like it?"

"I don't think she did."

"Well, she never wrote me back," signed James, looking a bit hurt.

"I think she thought you were trying to flirt with her again or something."

"Well, it's not my fault that she's the prettiest girl in the world."

Remus rolled his eyes and said, "It's not gonna work. You've already tried to get her to go out with you for two years now. Why don't you just try somebody else? I'm sure there are a lot of girls out there that would love to go out with you."

"I can't. If I did, my life would not be perfect anymore. I mean, without Lily"

Remus signed, "Whatever you say."

Sirius looked up after stuffing the last cake in his mouth, "What did I miss?"

"Nothing." Remus said.

"What? What is it?" asked Sirius curiously.

"James here's got that problem again."

"Huh? What?" Sirius asked confusedly. Then, his eyes sharpened, "Oh…"

James looked down at his knees and bit his lips, "Why doesn't she like me?"

Sirius slowly turned his head to look at Remus. Remus said after a few moments, "Maybe she's just seeing the wrong side of you."

James started smoothing his pet owl's wings and said disappointedly, "I'll never be good enough for her. She's just so perfect and I'm not."

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"Do you think you're ready Lily?" asked Alice.

"I guess. I already read the textbooks three times. I'll be okay. I think" Lily replied.

"This is our sixth year, and we have to do well to prepare for year seven."

"Don't worry, we'll all do very well," said Lily, smiling at her friends.

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**Next Chapter: **A prank was done during the Sorting, and it did not turn out to be very pretty between Lily and James. Also, a bit more on Chris and Lily will come up.

_PLEASE REVIEW! _I will try to answer every review possible! Thanks for reading!

Sorry about the first update without the dividing lines. That was kind of confusing.


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